Final-timed Writing

06309050056
Vera Zhang
June 21, 2007

Directions: If you were to create a filmed advertisement (a “trailer” ) for a movie based on The Grass-Eaters, which scene would you select? Why? Discuss ways in which you might film the scene.

    The Grass-Eaters is the short story that has exerted one of the greatest influences on my world outlook. If I were a director to film the trailer for a movie based on this story, I would create an oppressing air, making it a shocking as well as thought-provoking one.

    The characters are the heart and soul of a film. Throughout the trailer, I will employ the technique of montage to insert the faces of people from all walks leading the tortuous life in the countryside of India, along with the captivating yet outlandish landscapes in rural areas of India. After reading the story, the protagonist Ajit Babu’s complicated character to a great extent impressed me, which evokes me to get to know the psychological condition of the people suffering from penury, thus providing me with the muse of capturing people’s faces in the trailer. The highlight will be the facial expressions which reflect their psychological condition, rather than their appearances, through which the views will gain the access to the minds of these people by their careful observation. I believe that even people under similar circumstances will hold disparate world outlook, due to their different personalities or prejudices. In my trailer, the facial expressions of the faces will be prominent and easily detected: some are grievous and sorrowful, as if blaming the inequality of the society; some are paralyzed, for the critical condition drives such people to believe that there is no hope at all and the only practical thing is to accept the reality; some are resilient, which suggests such optimistic people firmly believe that perseverance will eventually triumph the hardship… Among the faces, Ajit Babu’s facial expression will be the most complicated and elusive: both hopeful and helpless. He seems to be philosophical and has his vistas of prosperity; however, he realizes the deep gap between expectation and reality, thus being melancholy.

    In the story, the writer also depicts the darkest side of their poor life which involves numerous severe crimes, such as abandoning the infants, stabbing other people’s backs, robberies, to name but a few, and I will also convert them into a significant scene in my trailer. The purpose is that I want more people to be aware that poverty can not only ruin people’s lives as well as wreck a nation’s culture; it can also be the origin of vice through generally paralyzing people’s minds. The poorest region of a country is probable to be a den of iniquity, with numerous horrible crimes committed and masses of drug dealers found, which proves to be true in many areas of the world. That really rebels the human nature, and this is the reason why we should strive to eliminate poverty. Therefore, I regard this scene as a motivating device to evoke more people’s sympathetic feelings.

    For the soundtrack, I will use Bach’s cantata to accompany the trailer, for Bach’s music involves a heavy scent of religion. The most people in India have their religion belief, but their life is still miserable. Shouldn’t religion exert ultimate care on people? Why do the people still taste the bitterest of life with the consolation of religion? I want my viewers to think about it.

27.5.07 07:07